Could the COVID-19 surge in China unleash a new coronavirus variant on the world? Plus, 8 charts tracking U.S. virus rates in the U.S.
Scientists don’t know but worry that might happen. It could be similar to omicron variants circulating there now. It could be a combination of strains. Or something entirely different, they say.
Every new infection offers a chance for the coronavirus to mutate, and the virus is spreading rapidly in China. The country of 1.4 billion has largely abandoned its “zero COVID” policy. Though overall reported vaccination rates are high, booster levels are lower, especially among older people. Domestic vaccines have proven less effective against serious infection than Western-made messenger RNA versions. Many were given more than a year ago, meaning immunity has waned.
Packed ICUs, crowded crematoriums: COVID-19 roils Chinese towns China's unyielding"zero-COVID" approach, which aimed to isolate all infected people, bought it years to prepare for the disease. But an abrupt reopening, announced Dec. 7 in the wake of anti-lockdown protests, caught the nation under-vaccinated and short on hospital capacity.
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